The recent unpleasantness that China’s government is trying so valiantly to “handle” (i.e. crush) in Tibet and other areas is proving to be quite a thorn in that fraudulent regime’s side as it tries desperately to project some sort of “legitimacy” to the world just a few months before the start of the next summer Olympic games.

China’s “leaders” are stuck between a rock and a hard place: they must refrain from using their typical brutality meant to maintain “stability” at all costs for fear it will get out to the rest of the world and cast a shadow over their precious Games, which they are hyping for all it’s worth as China’s entry onto the “world stage”. On the other hand, China’s unfortunate citizens might see the unusual “restraint” as an excuse to not shut up and keep protesting. And indeed, the unrest seems to be spreading beyond Tibet itself.

Meanwhile, it’s down to Nancy Pelosi of all people to give America’s strongest public response to the thuggery on display in China. Good for her. One almost gets the impression that she’s one of America’s few leading politicians who seems to understand that the notion that anything that comes out of the Chinese government’s mouth can be trusted is laughable. America’s current president and the presidential hopefuls are too busy falling over themselves kowtowing to China and its vast market to give any meaningful response.

The White House said Thursday the crackdown is not cause for President Bush to cancel his attendance at the Olympics. But it requested access to the region to see how Chinese police were dealing with detained protesters.

Yes, I’m sure the president’s crack investigative skills will get to the bottom of the matter with cheerful assistance from the Chinese government authorities who are sure to allow him every opportunity to witness for himself China’s benevolence toward its citizens. Or something. There will be smiles and handshakes all around, the Olympics will go on as scheduled, and that order for 10,000 crates of salad shooters at $3.99 apiece will help put more money in American housekeepers’ pockets by saving them from having to buy from unproductive, lazy American manufacturers.

America’s most common-sense writer on China today remains John Derbyshire, an old-style paleoconservative with whom I disagree on many topics but whose writings on China are spot-on. Here for example, there is some perspective on recent Tibetan history that China’s government would just as soon brush under the rug. In short, China invaded Tibet, a land with a language and culture of its own, and its leader (the Dalai Lama) has been in exile ever since. The Communists would have us believe that Tibet is just another happy piece of China’s great tapestry, which means that the opposite is probably true. Tibetans and other minorities, some conquered, some living in the Motherland for centuries, are granted special protections in the Chinese constitution, which again has little bearing on reality. Numerous arguments are trotted out in support of China’s sovereignty over them.

The response of an actual Tibetan to all this bluster is simple and straightforward. He will just say, with some passion: “But we are not Chinese!”

Unfortunately, Derbyshire uses Tibet’s very real cultural difference with the Han Chinese majority to go off on another one of his patented tribalist tangents, carrying on his long-time argument that American whites and blacks just don’t mix. This time it has the ugly sheen of “white man’s burden” written all over it. Nevertheless, there’s some interesting stuff in the argument, which shows that even if he’s wrong at least he’s thinking, which most Americans can’t be bothered with. His China writings remain some of the best I’ve read.